Car-fender.



L. E. SULZER..

. GAR FENDER.

v APrLxoATIoN FILED JUNE 21. 1910.

'94,7865, Patented Feb.21, 1911.

2 SHEETS-'SHEET 1.

@/mmo l y L C LEO E. SULZER, OF CHILLICOTHE, OHIO.

GAR-FENDER.

senses.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 21, 1911.

Application filed June 21, 1910. Serial No. 568,123.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEO E. SULZER, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Chillicothe, in the county of Ross and State ofOhio, have invented new and useful Improvements in Car-Fenders, of whichthe following is a speciication.

This invention relates to car fenders and particularly to those ofthepivoted type, the object of the invention being to provide means forholding the fender normally downwardly to the extent of its movement andto provide ,automatically controlled means when weight is applied to thefender for releasing the same and for causing it to move upwardlycarrying the object to a point of safety.

In the drawings, forming a portion of this specification and in whichlike numerals of reference indicate similar parts in the several viewsz-Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved fender. Fig. 2 is adetail section take-n on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 8 is a detailsection taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a view similar toFig. 3 but showing the fender in its elevated position. Fig. 5 is adetail view ot' the trip mchanism.

The fender consists of a basket-like member having a front bar 1, a rearbar 2, side bars 3 and slats 4. Any suit-able number of slats may beprovided, but as illustrated, such slats are connected at their rearends to the bar 2 and at their front ends to the bar 1. These slats arecurved downwardly and outwardly and then upwardly from the rear bar 2forming a curved bottom-like structure for the fender as will beunderstood. The rear bar 2 is pivoted in suitable brackets 5 whichdepend from the bottom of the car A at a point directly at the rear ofthe bumper B.

The bumper has mounted thereon near its ends a pair of dash-pots 6 whichare hingedly' connected to their supporting base members 7Iteciprocatory pistons 8 operate in the cylinders, and as shown, suchpistons are provided with rods 9 whose lower ends are pivotallyconnected with the cross bar 10 of the fender. A suitable numberof eXtensile springs 11 have their upper ends connected with the bumper B andtheir lower ends connected with the bar 10 of the fender, the springsserving to move the same upwardly.

A trip or retaining' mechanism is employed for holding the fenderdownwardly 1e. `have their rear terminals connected with the against thetension of the springs 11. This mechanism consists of a yoke-like member12 having spaced arms 13 and 14. The arm 13 is supported by and pivotedto the bracket 15 which depends fromthe bumper B. The arm 14 is providedwith a pivoted finger 16 which is engaged in the recess 17 of thedog 18.The pivot 18 which connects fthe arm 13 with the bracket also pivotallylsupports the dog. This dog is engaged by leaf spring 15 on the member12 and held thereby to normally close against the finger A series ofactuating connections 19 dog 18, and as shown, such connections aremounted to travel over suitable pulleys 20 on the rear bar 2 of thetender and the forward ends of the connections are secured to the `frontbar 1 ofthe fender.

The construction of the trip or retaining mechanism described is suchthat the bar 10 of the fender may be placed between the arms 18 and 14and against the pivoted finger 16 of such mechanism to hold the fendernormally against the tension of the springs 11. When pressure or weightis applied 'to the fender, as for instance, when it collects an object,the fender will be moved downwardly to a slight extent and the weight ofthe object contacting with the connections 19 will be such as to causethe dog 18 of the retaining mechanism to be released from the linger 16.Under the action of the springs 11 the finger 16 will then be moved toan open position and the fender will be elevated to assume the positionshown in Fig. 4 of the drawings.

From the construction shown and described it will be seen thatimmediately after an object has been collected by the fender it will bemoved to a point of safety above the surface of the ound and away fromthe car wheels. The dash-pots 6 will act to retard the upward movementof the fender on release of the retaining mechanism thereby preventingsuch sudden movement as would tend to throw the object from the fender.At the top of the dash-pots are lor cated suitable air-vent valves 6.

I claim 1. In a car fender, a pivoted basket, spring means yieldinglysupporting the basket, a member pivotally supported by the car andengaging the basket to hold the same normally against movement underaction ofthe spring means, a dog engagingthe said movable member to holdthe same operatively associated with the basket, and dog-releasingmechanism embodying a flexible actuating element extending across thebasket and operatively connecting the basket with the dog so that whenWeight is applied to the element the dog Will be released from the saidmovable basket-engaging member.

2. A car fender comprisingabasket pivotally supported by the car andextending for- Wardly therefrom, sp-ring meansconnecting the car Withthe basket and operating to hold the basket normally in an elevatedposition, a bracket depending from the car, a movable member carried bythe bracket and engaging the basket to hold the same normally at thedownward limit of its movement against the tension of the spring means,a dog engaging the said movable member to hold the same normally againstpivotalmovement, and releasing mechanism operatively connecting thebasket With the dog so that When Weight is applied to the Ibasket and tothe releasing mechanism the dog will be released from the said movablemember to permit the basket to move up- Wardly under the tension of thespring means.

3. A fender for cars comprising a basket pivotally supported upon theear, a dashpot operatively connecting the car 'With the basket to retardthe movement of the basket in one direction, spring means operating tohold the basket normally in an elevated position, movable meanssupported by the car and operating to hold the basketunormally againstthe tension of the said spring means, and releasing mechanism operatingto release the said movable means from the basket to permit the basketto move upwardly under tension of the spring means when Weight isapplied to the releasing mechanism.

4. The combination with a movable fender, means for holding thesameagainst movement, means for tripping the holding means to release thefender, and mechanism for retarding the upward-movement of the fender.

5. The combination With a fender, means for moving said fender, holdingdevices, mechanism for releasing the holding devices, and pneumaticmeans for retarding the movement of the fender.

-ln testimony whereof I aTiX my signature in presence of tvvoVWitnesses.

LEO E. SULZER. llitnesses Josnrn L. SULZER, Jol-IN REIHERT.

